“The court gave you sole title.”

“The house belongs to an old life,” I said.

“Yesterday I put a cash deposit down on the two-bedroom brick townhouse on Maple Street.”

“That’s four blocks from the elementary school,” Sarah said, taking a silver pen out of her blazer pocket.

“Sophie can walk to class every morning without crossing the main avenue,” I said.

I took the pen from her and signed my full legal name across the bottom line of the sales agreement.

At two o’clock Sunday afternoon, the wind across the West Hartford public park carried the smell of wet pine needles.